


somebody who loves me

by wintersweather



Category: Polygon/McElroy Vlogs & Podcasts RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Everyone Else is Here Too - Freeform, M/M, Prom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-14
Updated: 2018-09-14
Packaged: 2019-07-12 03:29:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15986678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wintersweather/pseuds/wintersweather
Summary: oh, i wanna dance with somebodyi wanna feel the heat with somebody





	somebody who loves me

**Author's Note:**

> title/excerpt from "i wanna dance with somebody" by whitney houston!

Pat wasn't big on school dances.

Honestly, he wasn't really big on anything his school put together. It usually fell flat, and as a senior, he knew it all too well at this point. Everyone always anticipated the events, and everyone was constantly disappointed.

"You're gonna go to prom, right?" Jenna asked him over the sound of the cafeteria, leaning across the metal table.

"I wasn't really planning on it. You?" Pat asked, efficiently deflecting the conversation from himself for the time being. He watched Jenna's face light up.

"Yeah, I'm going with Simone." She answered, a smiling playing at her lips. She seemed triumphant, even though Pat knew Simone probably took little convincing.

Simone was a boisterous, sort of nerdy book-smart girl. She sat with the theatre kids for the most part, but her laugh could probably be heard within a 20 mile radius. Jenna had been infatuated with her since the school year started.

"You should go. It's your senior year, after all - and you've always skipped homecoming." Allegra added, siding with Jenna, because she usually did.

Clayton nodded in agreement, but kept quiet. Pat started to feel a little outnumbered and just a bit peer pressured as he glanced between the expectant faces of his friends.

"I dunno. I don't have a date, yknow?" He said finally, trying to keep hold of whatever semblance of control that was rapidly leaving him. Sure, plenty of people went to prom alone; he knew that. But he also knew himself, and how overly self-concious he'd feel. He'd probably leave after 10 minutes of awkwardly nodding along to music he didn't like, and making conversation with three people.

It'd suck.

"I can handle that." Jenna grinned, a devious look in her eye that Pat wasn't entirely familiar with.

Pat made a face. Though, out of the four of them, Jenna was the only one who really interacted outside the friend group on her own free will. The rest of them just hung out with each other in Clayton's basement, playing D&D.

"I don't like that tone." Pat said, shifting in his seat and looking for support from the others. Allegra was checking her phone and Clayton was determinedly ignoring the shenanigans happening at the other end of the table.

"Don't sweat it! Have I ever let you down?" Jenna prompted, sitting up excitedly in her seat.

Pat didn't even have to reflect. "Uh, yeah. Like, most of the time." He felt like Jenna was kidding anyway, and he sort of wanted to call her bluff. She played a rogue in their campaign, and Pat liked to think it really suited her in person.

She would probably shank Pat one day when he's least expecting it. And they'd both laugh as he bled out on the concretre, because for a rogue, Jenna was pretty damn predictable.

\- - -

Pat forgot all about it in the course of a few weeks. Jenna didn't mention it again, and Pat didn't bring it up. It was the night of prom when Pat got a jarring call from Allegra.

"Where are you?" She asked, a tinge of annoyance in her voice. "You were supposed to meet us at the park like half an hour ago for pictures."

Pat sat up in bed, glancing at the clock. It was 6:30, and he had never felt more disoriented in his life. "Pictures? What?"

"Prom?" Allegra said, matching his tone.

"Prom?!" He exclaimed, standing up.

"Your date is here waiting for you, jackass. Did you forget?"

Pat racked his brain as he pulled open his closet, hunting for anything even remotely formal. He honestly thought Jenna was joking with that shit. "Yeah? I guess so."

"Pat!" She said, drawing out the A in an accusatory way. "You've got half an hour til the dance, dude." She paused, and Pat could hear voices muffled in the background . "We talked about this in the group chat!"

Pat grimaced at his closet. Almost all black, definitely all casual. He was near panic as he shuffled through his shirts for the third time in vain. "Well, I have nothing to wear, so I'm fucked. Tell everyone I'm sorry." He said before holding his breath as his eyes scanned the rack, taking in all his every day clothing.

"Do your best. You're not missing this." She said, an edge in her tone. She hung up immediately after, ending the discussion.

Pat felt a little miserable. He didn't want to go anyway, but now he felt like an asshole, like he was letting them all down. He selected a black long-sleeved button up, his best pair of black jeans, and his boots.

It was about all he could do.

He pulled his hair back into a haphazard bun as he flew down the stairs, grabbing his car key off the table and damn near sprinting out the front door.

\- - -

It felt like a mistake when he got to the park. He anticipated seeing just his friends and Simone, but some of Simone's friends had turned up: Jeff Ramos, a kid who always got 100s in every art class and laughed at everything; Tara Long, sort of a hard-ass who ran group protects with an iron fist; and Brian David Gilbert (who seriously went by all three names), an insufferable theatre kid who didn't know the meaning of "inside voice". Or "personal space". Or "keeping to yourself every once in awhile".

"You lived!" Jenna said as Pat approached, feeling out of place and hoping it didn't show. "Brian's your date. He says he doesn't care that you're late, but I think he's lying."

Brian cracked a smile. "It's really no big deal. I'm glad he showed up at all." He laughed, trying to keep things in high spirits.

Pat's head felt light. Brian was his date for the night? He shot Brian a quick, fabricated smile before turning back towards Jenna. "Hey, can I talk to you? Alone? Urgently?"

Jenna raised a brow, but broke away from the main group with Pat behind her. "What's up?" She asked once they were out of earshot.

Pat looked at her. She had on teal eyeshadow to contrast her yellow gown, and he wondered briefly if it was to match the dances' "80s Theme", or if Jenna was always like this. "Any particular reason you stuck me with Brian?"

Jenna shrugged. "He's like the only other gay in school." She said, holding up her hand before Pat could argue further. "And I think you guys will have good chemistry. He's really fun. Opposites attract and all, right?"

Pat tried to ignore the un-fun comment. "I think we might be too opposite."

"Give it a shot. If it goes south, tell him you have food poisoning or something." She joked, patting his shoulder. "C'mon, it'll be fine." 

Pat wished he had even a fraction of the confidence Jenna currently had in her tone.

"Tell me you're willing to give him a chance." Jenna said, in a guilttrippy sort of way that Pat wasn't entirely fond of. She looked expectantly up at him, eyes wide behind her glasses.

Pat sighed, feeling like he was deflating. "I guess." He conceded, ignoring Jenna's smug smile and making his way back towards the group. If anything, Brian _was_ cute. He looked way better than Pat did, at least.

Brian looked nice, wore a suit. Pat was dressed like some punk-ass choir kid who would never get the solo, no matter how hard he tried. Or maybe he just looked like a groupie for My Chemical Romance. Either way, it wasn't great. 

There seemed to already be a system of carpooling set in place to get to the school, a plan Pat was also not included in but was expected to understand. He decided to just drive himself and spare the trouble. If course, Brian wanted to come, because of the whole "date" thing and all.

Pat didn't say anything as they were on the way to prom as Brian fiddled with the settings on his car radio. Pat wasn't sure about that, either, but he figured it was reversible, and therefore inconsequential.

"Have we - uh - have we ever talked before?" Brian began, hesitant. He glanced at Pat, bordering on nervous.

"We just did. At the park." Pat answered, taking a right turn onto the correct road, not meeting Brian's eye. "Anyway, I've seen you in school performances."

Brian nodded a bit. "Really? You don't seem like someone who would come to stuff like that."

Pat felt his face warm. "People are surprising sometimes." He said, trying to not sound as defensive as he felt.

He could hear Brian's smile when he answered. "Yeah. You're right."

\- - -

The gym of the basement was decorated. Not well, but it was decorated, and it was dark aside from some colored LED lights, so you didn't have to see how poorly it was decorated. Pat kind of appreciated it, in a way.

Pat attempted to keep to himself at a table for the night, but it became readily apparent that Brian wasn't willing to let that happen. Brian would sit beside him for no longer than five minutes before getting up, reaching for Pat's hands.

"We should dance." Brian suggested, offering his hand down to Pat. 

A song he didn't recgonize was playing over the sound system, and he had half a mind to say no before seeing Brian's face, soft and hopeful in the blue lights. He placed his hand in Brian's standing up.

He'd only be at senior prom once.

Brian danced freely, didn't care if anyone thought he looked dumb. Pat didn't have that luxury, feeling self-concious as he bobbed along to the music and watched Brian. It was sort of admirable. 

Every once in awhile, Brian would take Pat's hands in his and make him dance, force him to really move along to the beat. Pat tried in vain to not blush, letting himself get dragged around the squaky gym floor.

By the time he started to actually enjoy himself, that unevitable block of slow songs came on. He started to shuffle back to the table, feeling the insecurity creep back up on him now that there was no loud music to drown it out.

"Hey," Brian said softly, resting his hand on Pat's shoulder. 

Pat paused, meeting Brian's eyes. "Hey."

Brian brough his other hand to Pat's shoulder, swaying back and forth with him. "I'm having a really fun time with you tonight." He continued, and Pat almost thought he could see Brian's cheeks flush.

Pat smiled a little, letting his hands rest on Brian's waist. "Yeah, me too."

"Really?" Brian asked, taking a tenative step closer. "I was really worried you wouldn't." 

"I was, too." Pat replied honestly, and for a fleeting moment, everything felt calm and still, like he wasn't in a gymnasium with the rest of his graduating class and some shitty acoustic-based faux deep song playing over the radio. It was just him and Brian.

"Do you wanna, like, get Taco Bell after this?" Brian asked, tilting his head.

Pat laughed, nodding. "Yeah. I really do."

**Author's Note:**

> i didnt beta this so if it has a bunch of typos I'M SORRY
> 
> tumblr: easterntimecryptid  
> twitter: estcryptid


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